


Catch me

by easterngods



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Alternate Universe - Baseball, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M, be wary of some character appearances lol i had a hard time finding idols for a baseball team, this seems like a long innuendo of who tops or bottoms but it actually has a story i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-02 00:54:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14533164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/easterngods/pseuds/easterngods
Summary: Yunho feels his left hand tingle in desire. Desire to not only be the best catcher around, but to be the one facing the retreating pitcher. There would be 60 feet between them, with that entire boy’s trust solely entrusted to him. Every strike, every victory would be theirs to make.[Basically Yunho's infamous "If you're not going to take this seriously, just quit now!" to Changmin, but set in college baseball.]





	Catch me

**Author's Note:**

> Blame this on me rewatching daiya no ace and because baseball season is back!!

_**Ninth inning – two outs** _

_“That’s their ace,” Hojun tells him, he’s not really paying attention to what his friend says after that, his attention stolen by the lean figure on the mound._

_“Ace…huh,” he begins to say, but he drifts off when he realizes the said figure was starting his wind up and he didn’t want to miss a single moment of the release._

 

_Strike 1 – his eyes were no longer blinking_

 

_“Has a wicked fastball, has almost every kind of pitch in his arsenal, and has a 10-0 record in his rookie season,” Hojun continues like a sports commentator beside him. However, he was still concentrated on the capped boy in the middle of it all._

 

_Strike 2 – his heart skipped a beat_

 

_Yunho notices the fast delivery of the pitcher; never once shaking off on the catcher 60 feet from him. Quite unusual, especially in a situation like the team was in right now. It was the last batter in a one-run game. For a pitcher give his full trust to the catcher in a do-or-die situation was admirable to Yunho. He grimaces at the thought of being the batter on the plate; his timing must have been way off with the pitcher continuously delivering pitches without hesitation._

 

_Strike 3 – he stands up and cheers like he never cheered before_

 

_“Yah! Yundol calm yourself, we weren’t supposed to be here in the first place, we can’t be seen,” his friend reprimands him, pulling on his raised arms to settle his hyperactive self._

_Yunho obeys his companion and quiets down, but the smile he gained after watching the game never falters. They were hidden near the bleachers of the prestigious high school, having traveled from Gwangju just to catch a glimpse of what a game in an elite school was like._

_Yunho couldn’t deny the obvious difference of facilities and state of the art equipment. To say he was envious was underestimating it. It gave him a bigger push to do whatever it takes to set his place here in Seoul as one of the best catchers around._

_Hojun claps him on the back, signaling that they should head back soon in order to catch the train. Yunho stays put for one more moment, stealing one last glance at the cheering team on the field. He scans for the star of game. Emerging from the middle of his huddled yelling teammates, the lanky boy from before received multiple pats on the back. He returns them with a slight smile, but heads off to the opposite of the group; to the dugout all alone._

_Yunho feels his left hand tingle in desire. Desire to not only be the best catcher around, but to be the one facing the retreating pitcher. There would be 60 feet between them, with that entire boy’s trust solely entrusted to him. Every strike, every victory would be theirs to make._

 

 

 

\---

 

 

 

 

“Chwang!”

Changmin neither stops nor does he slow down in hearing his nickname yelled two octaves above normal. In actuality, he speeds up, hoping to reach the school building or at least blend into the massive crowd on the way there.

Unfortunately, for him, his height would always be a disadvantage in games like hide-and-seek, or plainly trying to get rid of your annoying best friend on your first day of university.

He feels an arm slap around him, as well as panting in his right ear.

“It’s awfully rude to ignore your favourite person in the world,” the person says in between his ragged breaths.

Changmin scrunches his nose in fake-disgust and shakes off the arm around him. “What’s even ruder is hearing your name screeched out at eight in the morning, Kyu,” he retorts, slinging his previously falling bag back on his shoulder.

“Can’t I be excited to start a new milestone with my best friend?” Kyuhyun cheekily replies while gathering his frowning friend’s head sideways, smashing their cheeks together.

Rolling his eyes, Changmin doesn’t play up his sour mood any longer and falls into step with his friend. He lets his mouth form a smile, breathing in the cool morning breeze.

It does feel nice having a fresh start, no predetermined responsibilities, and no forced destinies. It was his story to create. As cliché as it sounds, the world was his oyster. Endless possibilities for a dreamless – now a nobody –like he was.

He keeps that smile silently, beside him his friend chatting away. He listens intently as the conversation swerves into one about the latest chapter of their favourite manga. Okay so it wasn’t Kyuhyun’s, but his friend tolerates his obsession and would indulge in his long-winded opinions about it because Kyuhyun knows he would reciprocate it with his own interests.

He was actively recounting the events the last chapter. Right before he could start on the foreshadowing and symbolism of the latest update, he was abruptly pushed. Kyuhyun catches him before he could stumble any closer to the ground.

When he looks up, Changmin catches the suspect of his almost demise. He almost lashes out, but holds himself back. He reminds himself that he’s no longer a ‘great sunbaenim’, he’s back to being a forgettable hoobae. It has been years, but he needs to instill the expected respect and manners that he rarely had to use given his previous status. No matter how careless this supposed sunbae was.

The person turns around, backpack close to slipping off due to only being slung around one arm, and a gym bag barely closed with its contents almost spilling when its owner whipped to face Changmin.

“Sorry,” the man apologizes hurriedly, bowing slightly causing the helmet – unnoticed by Changmin earlier – to fall. The man hastily picks up the fallen headgear and turns around with no other notice of Changmin. He runs towards the field, clumsily bumping to more people on the way to his destination.

Changmin slightly dumbfounded, finds his footing again. He gives a small thanks to Kyuhyun and straightens out his clothes.

He takes one more look at where the man had run off. His eyes lands on the baseball diamond a few metres to his right. Quickly, he diverts his eyes elsewhere and picks up his pace.

“Min, are you ok?” Kyuhyun worriedly asks about his sudden change of mood.

He shakes his head, “Don’t worry Kyu, just first day nerves that’s all.” He gives a small smile and they continue the walk to the university in comfortable silence.

 

\---

 

“It’s unbecoming of a captain to be late, Jung,” a voice taunts him as soon as his foot touches the grass.

Yunho grumbles at the voice and drops his stuff on the ground.

“Fuck off, Hae,” he says without any malice, walking over towards smirking man. He glares before catching the man in a bear hug.

“How could you be so late, especially during the first day of being the official leader. Can you believe it? You can boss us around now with validation!” Donghae breaks off the hug, but keeps an arm around Yunho’s shoulders.

“I was always your hyung so I always had that validation, dongsaeng,” Yunho mimics Donghae’s smirk from before.

Donghae lightly shoves him, “Yah! We’re technically the same age!”

“We’re also the same age as Hyukjae, what’s your point?” Yunho walks back to gather his stuff from before, only to see a bunch of second years already taking care of it.

“Hey! I heard that!” shouts someone from the pitching machine.

Donghae rolls his eyes and walks over to Yunho, “But in all seriousness, today’s the clubs’ fair. We have to prepare to recruit new members. Why were you running late?”

Yunho’s eyes drop, he feels guilty for being tardy, especially for being this year’s captain.

“Sorry Hae, I was on the phone with my family back home. I was about to head out of the dorms when they put on harabeoji. He was so excited about me being captain, I lost track of time,” Yunho says.

He feels a pat on his back. He looks up to Donghae’s understanding smile.

“Don’t worry about it. I mean that’s what having an assistant captain is for, I was able to delegate the team to their positions already, you just have to double check some logistics and I guess do one of your inspirational speeches,” Donghae assures him, guiding them towards the diamond.

Yunho grins back, “Thanks, Hae,” however, he spaces himself from his teammate and turns his grin back into a smirk, “-but I’ve told you before, there’s no such thing as an assistant captain!”

He stalks off to check on the rest of the team, leaving a sputtering Donghae trying to reason with him that there should be an assistant captain, and that he would be perfect for the role.

He spots Junsu joining Hyukjae tinkling with the pitching machine for what seems like eons now.

“If you break that, Hyukjae, you’re paying for that straight out of your pocket,” Yunho teases as he heads towards the pair.

Hyukjae looks up and meets Yunho’s fake glare. “I swear I didn’t mean to, Jaejoong hyung wanted to practice some batting. He was whining about not losing to some ‘no-good’ first years and he said I would be lowered in the batting order if he was lowered too-,” Hyukjae rambles. Junsu beside him, after realizing how gullible his best friend was, shakes his head and abandons him.

Yunho holds up his hand to signal the boy to stop, “First of all, he doesn’t have that power, and second it’s not switched on, pabo-yah.” He lightly hits the back Hyukjae’s head and goes over to switch it on himself.

A ball instantly launches out to the outfield, “Heads up, Sungmin!” Yunho calls out to his regular left fielder who was talking to Donghae. Sungmin looks up and easily catches the projectile.

Yunho claps once in acknowledgement and turns his attention back to the slightly blushing boy, “Next time, don’t easily believe the shit that comes out of Jae’s mouth all the time. If I’m not here again, just threaten to tell on him to Kangin-hyung.” He winks at Hyukjae to ease up the tension.

He goes off to another part of the field, finding the culprit of Hyukjae’s trouble. Jaejoong was in the middle of an intense conversation with Yoochun while they carelessly throw a ball to one another.

“I’m telling you, Chunnie, he has to be here,” Jaejoong moans as he throws the ball back to the Yoochun.

Yoochun catches the ball in his glove and pauses, “And I’m telling you that the chances of your boy to be enrolled at our university is unlikely.” He throws it back just as Jaejoong harrumphs.

“It is not unlikely, when our school is the school for baseball. With his talent, he has no problem with getting in or even being scouted, he would be a fool to not take this chance,” Jaejoong retorts with a slight tongue stuck out at the end as if it contributes significantly to his argument.

“For once Jae is right, only a fool would refuse this school,” Yunho interjects the two.

The two turn to him, “See Chun, I told yo-, yah! Hey, what do you mean for once?” Jaejoong stomps over to him.

Yoochun ignores him while walking over to Yunho as well.

“You finally made it, hyung!”

“Sorry I was running late, so who was this possibly foolish boy that you were arguing about?” Yunho asks them.

Jaejoong holds his glare for a few seconds more before answering Yunho’s question, “I was telling Chun here of this guy I used to go to school with. We were on the same team, I was in my last year and he was in his first. He was incredible, Yun. Honestly unbelievable, like he was born to be on that mound.” Jaejoong’s eyes has glazed over during his raving.

“A pitcher?”

Yunho puts a hand to his chin, thinking of how most of the third years last year were pitchers, and how they have lost a good chunk of good arm in both rotation and bullpen.

“We could really use that. Did you keep in contact with him?” Yunho continues, hoping that Jaejoong would give them one less picture to look for.

Jaejoong shakes his head no, “I got injured halfway through the season, and I didn’t get to spend much time with him. Luckily I was already scouted in the first half of the season, but I never got defend him for more than two games.”

Yunho sighs, he knew it was too good to be true. He was suddenly reminded of his pitcher from years ago. He should be around the same age as Jaejoong’s former teammate. He wonders what had happened to the pitcher of his dreams.

“So what makes you say that he would’ve enrolled in ours then,” Yunho raises his eyebrow at Jaejoong, jokingly taking Yoochun’s side.

“Weren’t you on my side earlier? Anyway, remember there was a rumor of a pitcher prodigy that was scouted since our first year here? Well another rumor has it that the school acquired that kid,” Jaejoong brings his gloved hand to his mouth and whispers the last sentence.

Yunho chuckles at him, “You and your rumors again, Jae.”

This earned him a pout at the aforementioned.

“Captain, if I were you, I would wish my rumors are true, I’m telling you that kid was a star in the making,” Jaejoong finishes his point, and walks over to Hyukjae when he notices the machine was fixed.

Yunho turns to Yoochun who was chuckling behind his glove, “Tell your hyung to not be over-sensitive all the time and to stop taking it out on his dongsaengs.”

Yoochun snorts out the last of his laughs and nods to Yunho. Yunho smiles at him as he shouts for the team to gather around the mound. He waits for the whole team to reach the infield, while he reminisces on previous first gatherings on the mound ever since he started university.

Now he was the captain, and he was determined to take this team, his family, to victory. He wanted to feel the excitement he felt when the unnamed pitcher from his past threw that last strike. That wasn’t his victory then, but now he will have his very own.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll update the Love Line fic once I finish editing both the published chapter and the second chapter because your girl was sleep deprived while writing that and there were horrendous mistakes lol
> 
> Once the positions are established for the supporting characters I'll put up a guide in the endnotes :)
> 
> Hope you guys like it! (Go Jays go!)


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